The CCTV report said that the chickens — which had inferior health conditions and reached full growth within about 40 days — were sold to the Liuhe Group and Yingtai Co, both KFC suppliers.

After the CCTV report triggered public concern over the safety of the birds supplied to KFC, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration carried out tests on Tuesday after taking 32 samples of raw chicken products from a logistics center belonging to Yum Brands in Shanghai. The results of the tests are not known yet.

Severe punishments will be handed out if any violation of food safety laws is found, the Shanghai Food Safety Office said.

This year, Yum Brands sent a total of 283 batches of samples for test, which didn't include the products from Liuhe, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The administration's probe revealed that the logistics center's purchase records suggest that no purchases were made from Liuhe after May.

"We will investigate whether Yum Brands took measures according to the food safety laws when they received the report on unqualified chicken," said Gu Zhenhua, deputy director of the Shanghai Food Safety Office.

"Further investigations will also be made on the tests body (Shanghai Institute for Food and Drug Control), and we will implement the most strict accountability procedures on it," he said.

Toxicologist Lu Dun said that the incident exposed some flaws in the system. "For the testing body, it's hard to find out how the clients will deal with the chickens after the test results are unveiled," Lu said.

Contact the writer at wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn

 

Investigation into KFC's chichen:

Thursday: KFC supplier chicken farms under investigation

Wednesday: Shanghai food watchdog checks KFC chicken samples 

Dec 5: Suhai chicken sent to KFC passes national standard

 

Oil used in KFC:

KFC oil safe

Tests find oil used by KFC not harmful

 

KFC in China:

KFC vows to pursue expansion in smaller markets

Yum! opens 300th KFC restaurant in Beijing

KFC serves up a recipe for successful investment

Netizens down on KFC's denial of 'handsome deliveryman' service